Movie Reviews

Rebuttal to previous review by Herb Hunter

Disinformation | 12/03/2007

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Full Disclosure - we are the distributer of Barry Cooper's Never Get Busted. This review is Barry's own words in response to the review by Herb Hunter. Barry wanted to clear some things up that were stated in Herb's review.

"Unfortunately not all police officers operate with the same mission that Cooper had when he was a counter drug cop."

Didn't you mean "fortunately?"

"He focused primarily on a stretch of highway known for drug trafficking and developed profiles that might not raise red flags with other police agencies in other situations and neighborhoods."

In the "Profiling" section of my film, I take the viewer to a stretch of highway known for drug trafficking and I also take the viewer into a small town, Big Sandy, TX and share how city cops profiled. There is a difference and I explained that in the DVD.

"...and how futile it is to try to conceal dope from the law."

Not sure what you mean here. I certainly expose the tricks cops use to break the 4th amendment but then teach how to fool drug dogs and where to hide your stash. It is never "futile" to learn how to fool the cops so you can get home safely.

"I didn't really see the benefit to caving in and allowing for an officer to search the car under any circumstances, as he suggested earlier in the video."

The benefit is staying out of jail. Because cops do not respect the 4th amendment, if a person refused consent, 10 other officers show up with 10 more cops and cause the dog to false alert so they can search. In comparison, if you give permission and you stash is well hidden, the officer is likely to check the glovebox and trunk and let you go. I know this because this is what I did. Jeff Steinberg (defense attorney for 40 years, nothing but drug cases and on the board of NORML and Bobby Mims (East Texas attorney of 30 years and has tried 15 capital cases) agrees my advice is sound. It sounds backwards but makes sense. There are times to refuse consent as well. I am going to edit the DVD in time to share when this is a good idea. I wish I would have shown the other side in the first edit. Sorry 'bout that!

"The problem here is that there is NO SUCH DOCTRINE allowing for a "plain feel" of the inside of an automobile. Plain feel applies to people, not cars."

YOU ARE ABSOLUTELY WRONG. I am glad you are a law graduate but please make sure you give proper information regarding the law. The following is a quote I took from Jon Katz, a famous criminal defense attorney:

"Under Michigan v. Long, the driver and passenger areas of a car are subject to a Terry frisk where the police have reasonable and articulable suspicion to believe that weapons are contained therein. However, a cop's claim that s/he conducted a Terry frisk does not automatically make the frisk legal; that is a question for a suppression court judge, who must determine whether the frisk was made pursuant to reasonable and articulable suspicion that weapons are contained in the area frisked, and that the area is the lawful subject of a Terry frisk to begin with."

"...if he feels what seems to be contraband (he knows what a crack rock feels like through a pants pocket, etc.) then the "plain feel" doctrine lets him expand upon that initial pat down search and investigate the contraband."

This is not true either. If this were true, a cop could go into your pocket for carrying around a piece of gravel! Terry Frisks or "plain feels" are designed to protect the officer from weapons. So far, hundreds of attorneys have poured over the DVD and you are the only one saying it is legally incorrect. There have been attorneys who challenge my advice on the consent issue but none have pointed out errors in the law I explain. I appreciate your interest and effort though!

Regards,

Barry N. CooperCEO/NeverGetBusted"

I love that I live in a country where Barry Cooper's right t

Jessica Lux | Rosamond, CA | 01/21/2008

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Narcotics officer Barry Cooper racked up over 800 felony and misdemeanor narcotic arrests, taking in millions in cash and assets for his departments in Texas, before turning in his badge and speaking out against the War on Drugs. Cooper saw the ineffectiveness and hypocrisy of the War on Drugs from the inside, even as he was the top cop in the state for drug busts. After arresting the both mayor's son and a councilman for drug possession, Cooper came under political pressure with further convinced him of the failure of the system. He retired from the force and became a target for nuisance arrests, so he's speaking back with Never Get Busted Again, a tell-all instructional video to "keep you from going to jail for an unjustified law that is already being broken daily by millions of non-violent citizens."

In his opening address, Cooper states that 42% of Americans have tried marijuana in their lives, and he does not believe that 42% of the country deserves to be in jail, so our laws on cannabis are not working. This reviewer heard about Cooper's DVD on National Public Radio (NPR), of all places, in a piece in which Cooper eloquently stated his position for the reform of marijuana laws. I'm a fan of COPS and any true crime show, so I figured, how much more real does it get?

His DVD is both a powerful social commentary and a practical instruction video. He breaks down the search and seizure laws, explaining what "probable cause" and "reasonable suspicion" mean in terms of a traffic stop. He even busts the myth that you should always refuse consent to search - cops do use the invocation of 4th amendment rights against you, even though they shouldn't. He discusses what does and doesn't mask odor and reveals the science and methodology behind canine search dogs.

Cooper says, "My main motivation in all of this is to teach Americans their civil liberties and what drives me in this is injustice and unfairness in our system." I always recommend that my friends be a card-carrying members of the ACLU, and now I'm going to add on a recommendation to view Cooper's passionate and practical video about the need for radical change in our national drug policy."

Busted Vs NGBA

Cowboy Bebop | 07/07/2008

(3 out of 5 stars)

"After watching both dvd's Busted and Never Get Busted Again, I would have to say that Busted is better.

The consent to search that Barry advises seems wrong. Again you don't know how well the police will search. In Barry's own police video's he kept poking and talking to the suspects until he found something he could use to arrest them. So it makes no sense to agree to a search and then play the conversation game with police in which you dig yourself into a deeper legal hole. It's against the law to lie to police so if you stop answering questions by saying "I'm going to remain silent, I'd like to see my attorney" then your consent to a search was for nothing. I didn't like the false positive that the drug dogs can give but maybe the dogs won't be available or is there a time limit that police can hold you before they need to let you go? The Busted dvd mock police threatened to use the dogs but after 10 minutes of waiting the mock police gave a speeding ticket and let them go."